Saturday

I spent a delightful Saturday de-icing my refrigerator. After I wrote that, it reminded me a scraping off icing from a cake fight, but unfortunately, my job was much more mundane.

My fridge is in a constant bad mood. I have to keep the kitchen door closed because it's constantly rattling and grumbling.

The ice buildup was so bad that the door wouldn't even close. I had fun attacking the ice with a butcher knife. I know my neighbours are curious about the weird girl who lives in their building, and I'm sure they were curious about whom I was attacking with such vigor.

The missionary girls invited me out for coffee and a movie. They were almost 20 minutes late. I have a cell phone for a reason. They brought with them another American student, as well as three Indian exchange students.

We went to Friends, my favourite cafe here in town. We got my favourite waiter (the cute one) and ordered our drinks. They have these frappe thingies that is pure foam and cream. I stuck with my "Winter Dream" tea. I always have to point it out on the menu because the waiters can never understand the way I pronounce English words. Delphine told me that to order foods with English names, you have to pronounce them with a Romanian accent. Which makes me feel incredibly stupid. "Ween-terrrrr dreeeeeam."

So we got out drinks and talked. Finally, a group of girls who spoke English! As my Mom would say, the Oxytocin was flowing. Then we went to see The Prince and Me. I was psyched because I love Denmark. I haven't seen a more historically inaccurate movie since the Titanic, but it was fluffy and girly and I enjoyed it.

I found a Zile si Noapte, which translates roughly to "Day and Night". It's a weekly free magazine which advertises various activities and going-ons in town. Since the girls had to get home, I decided to go out to a club. Alone.

I loved doing that in Sweden. I always met so many interesting people, and even if I embarassed myself, no one knew who I was, so it didn't matter.

I found a club called "The Note" which was having a "Red" party. The dress code was something elegant and red. Perfect.

I went home and put on a sexy red halter dress. I looked hot. The party started at 9:00 pm, so I arrived at 10:30. I was the only one at the club.

I got a Singapore Sling, which was the worst drink I have ever tried. Which was actually a good thing since it meant that I barely drank it, which means I didn't drink anything all night.

I walked around and people started coming in. Every table had a "Reserved" sign on it but a group of guys sat down on one of the couches and a few minutes later, I asked if I could sit down. One of the guys grunted so I assumed that meant yes.

As I looked at the people coming in, it dawned on me that not only was I the only one in a dress, but also the only one in red. The staff were all wearing red shirts, but otherwise, the girls were all in slutty tank tops and jeans.

I should have known: there are no rules in Romania. Adrian told me as much many times. So when the instructions stated "wear something elegant and red", it actually meant "come wearing some form of clothing".

So I was sitting on the couch all night. No one talked to me. There were a couple of over-zealous Romanians going at it beside me which made me spill my drink on my lap. The two guys next to me seemed facinated by their cell phone. I peeked over and saw that they were watching porno on it.

Please explain the logic to me:
You're at a club. A trendy club. A club right out of Sex and the City. You've got a hot foreign girl beside you wearing a sexy red dress. She tries to make eye contact with you, BUT YOU'RE TOO BUSY WATCHING PORNO ON YOUR CELL PHONE!!!

I smsed everyone I could think of: to complain, to whine or just to beg for them to come rescue me. I kept telling myself "You can leave at 12:00". "You can leave at 12:15." "You can leave at 12:30". Everytime I said that, a good song would come on.

Eventually, I started thinking of myself as the exotic foreigner. I just sat and people watched. And watched. And watched. This was more of a "seen and be seen" club rather than a dancing place. I left at 1:00 am.